I take the now-handheld console to my home office and sit in the green chair, the comfortable one, the one not in front of my laptop. I pick the Switch out of its TV-connected dock and slide on the detachable controllers.
I’m reviewing, in essence, the “Switch Experience” of playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. So I will review the way in which I can play this version of the game. To review the game would be redundant and unnecessary. Also you can’t spin your trophies anymore on the touchscreen, a toy-like wrinkle I missed more than expected.) But this version of the game is unique in that it comes out on Nintendo’s latest platform, the transforming tablet with detachable controllers that last month became their fastest-selling system of all time. (In fact, it loses features, too: The original’s Battle Mode, which I will defend against the misguided hordes, is gone. This version adds features and modes but essentially is the same product.
Mario Kart has reached big box store status. Those giant red ball statues out front? Now they’re Mario and Luigi’s head. Lest you think the game has not reached mass market acceptance and understanding, Target, they of the Bullseye red-and-white logo and Martha Stewart branded cookware, have this week transformed over six hundred of their stores into real-life Mario Kart simulators.
The game itself is a known quantity: Not only was the original Mario Kart 8 released three years ago on the Wii U, but “Mario Kart” itself has transcended genre and form and software and become a kind of platonic ideal.
bars extension.įor some reason, Mario Kart 8 uses standard H.264 MP4 files instead of the proprietary THP format.There is no need to review the videogame Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is now out for the Nintendo Switch. Mario Kart 8 stores some sound effects in SARC archives with the. Most of these files are simply updated versions of their Mario Kart Wii containers. In Mario Kart Wii this is /Race/Common.szs/ObjFlow.bin and is a binary data file. In Mario Kart 8 this is /vol/content/data/ aml, which is a BYAML file. In both Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart Wii, an objflow file exists which describes object metadata such as simple collision properties and asset names. Each object may have one or more BFRES models, zero or more KCL collision model and other files such as a BARS archive. The objects are stored in the directory /vol/content/mapobj with one subdirectory per object. Mario Kart 8 has a global store for objects which is a change from the Mario Kart Wii system in which the files necessary for objects are stored in each track that requires them (leading to duplication). The change from a model to an image may be down to the map now being displayed on the GamePad. The minimap in Mario Kart 8 is a BFLIM image file. The aml file has a flag indicating which objects are skybox models (VR) which may indicate that they are treated specially. In Mario Kart Wii it was a special model file in the course folder. The skybox for Mario Kart 8 is simply an object instantiated by the aml file like any other. Mario Kart 8 does not include simplified course models for multiplayer as Mario Kart Wii does. In Mario Kart Wii, it is a BRRES file which is not compressed as the whole course is. The course model in Mario Kart 8 is a YAZ0 compressed BFRES file. The KCL format has been updated between Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart Wii, but the purpose remains the same. In Mario Kart 8, battles occur on race tracks, hence the need for two separate files, whereas battle tracks are dedicated tracks in Mario Kart Wii, so they also use course.kmp.
These files describe control information about courses such as the lap path. The contents of these directories/archives are quite similar.
In Mario Kart Wii each course is stored as a compressed U8 Archive in the /Race/Course directory. The courses in Mario Kart 8 are each stored as a subdirectory of the /vol/content/course directory.